[littlechris1977]

Originally Posted by NoOne

In regard to any player with potential to be a 2-3 WAR or better everyday player -- It's better to promote them when they can minimally compete at the next level. These propsects are short listed and get an individualized treatment.

Slow-rolling the rest is fine and beneficial. The "filler" talent supplies bench players and injury depth at cheapest cost possible. Whether they hit ML at 24 or 28 i don't give a rip.

development potential is better the higher you go. development is not based on results*. ML level is the best development potential.

* - falling on their face does seem to be a negative, but an ~80 ops+ is no big deal as long as ratings are continuously increasing.

They can be below average performance and develop quickly. Development is all you should care about in the minors relative to an individual player.

Also, realize that vast majority of 5-star 17-18 year olds aren't actually 5-star potential. A ton of inaccurate scouting and then a smaller portion that fail to develop. So it looks like failure to develop way more often than reality of the context unless you look under the hood with comissioner mode to verify which is which.

College kids are inaccurately scouted, too, but not as badly. It may take a year or 2+ to see potential correct itself for an 18 year old in your system and much less time to correct inaccuracy of college draftees.

Even so, i've seen a player get stuck in rookie ball for many years and still develop well (computer teams). What is possible and what you see isn't necessarily 'optimal,' though. I'd wager there's some good leeway in this regard to cover up less-than-ideal choices for computer controlled teams.

My goal is to develop as fast as possible so that they aren't too old when club control ends...extending ~30 year olds with long, expensive contracts is stupid. Those are the ones i know i will trade before it comes to that. That impacts who i target for trades and drafts too.

That fast-paced strategy may not be best for development success, but sure seems to be a net-benefit in regard to contract situations down the road that it outweighs whatever minor effect it may have. Old, expensive, non-performing players are a significant problem to avoid.

I rarely have 'wasted' money in trash players. That means i consistenly field an 'extra' good player compared to typical roster management. Not wasting millions on bench players and injury depth is a huge benefit too.

'pressure situations' aren't in ootp and not related to development. again, results, even in real life, are not why someone gets better... an improvement in performance is the result of development / effort / practice. The improvemnt is not a cause, and that is reflected properly in how ootp works.

morale can be a concern due to bad performance, i'd wager, but again, small piece of total pie. I sandbag my minor league teams to ensure high performance.. those mediocre talents that 'can' play a role in the majors are a dime a dozen. Let them sit longer at each level and you consistently have winning teams and happy players.

Those are guys i let walk after 3 ML svc years anyway (saves millions of dollars to be spent elsewhere). A constant revolving door of bench players and AAAA-quality depth for injuries is easy to maintain. if they are a year or two older when they reach the majors it's a good thing because no 2nd contract is coming. No need to spend 2-5m or more on a bench player or injury depth in AAA. league minimum is enough and no difference in quality worth measuring.

Majors or AAA seasoning? I'd rather any well-rated prospect be a bench player in ML than sit in AAA. I won't let a high potential guy mostly developed ride the pine for more than one year... i will make sure they get a decent amount of playing time by the 2nd year in majors. I don't want them sitting at back of bench getting 50-100PA /year. whether it was coincidence or not, they seem to lose potential in that context.

In real life the top talents don't spend much time in AAA. MiL lifers and injury depth type talent fills AAA.

So, unless i see a major delay in getting them playing time in ML, i don't 'season' in AAA unless logistically necessary.

The mediocre talents sit in AAA until i let the previous bench players walk in FA. These guys i focus on versatility and defense, because that stuff is cheap and easy to find. If they lose a point or two of potential/current by doing so it's of no loss and irrelevant to ML team performance. obviouusly those that are used as injury replacements have that clock starting sooner. There's always more coming... spending a couple million on a vet for the bench occassionally isn't the end of the world but mostly avoidable.

I play OOTP 24, does this still apply there?